A Desperate Attempt

"ELLIE!" The sound of Ashley's voice breaking through the sound of the rushing water came through the door. Ellie raised her head as she placed both her hands on the ground beside her, hanging her head she took several deep breaths to calm herself down as she slowly and painfully pushed herself to her feet, grabbing onto the sides of the tub to steady herself.

As she stood up her eyes scanned the now destroyed bathroom. The floor was covered with shards of the broken mirror, slight trickles of blood seeped down her arm as she realized a piece of the glass must have pricked her. She searched the bathroom as she spotted the roll of toilet paper.

"ELLIE OPEN THE DOOR!" Ashley yelled louder.

"Just A minute!" Ellie called back, her voice slightly cracking.

Ellie grabbed the paper towel as she quickly brushed away the slight drops of blood. If Ashley saw any of it she would assume Ellie had actually cut herself, and then she would be forced to sit through a long speech.

Throwing the toilet paper in the toilet she quickly flushed the toilet, rushing to the shower she turned the water off. Walking to the door she took a few more deep breaths before turning off the light and swinging open the door.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Ashley asked her, her voice full of concern.

"Yeah. I got some water on the ground, slipped and broke the mirror." Ellie said, forcing herself to let out a soft chuckle to make her believe her story.

"Are you ok?" Ashley asked as she attempted to stick her head into the room.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm just...tired. I'll clean it up tomorrow." Ellie said as she pushed Ashley into the hallway, following her she closed the door behind her.

"I'm just..I think I'm going to..go to bed." Ellie said.

"Hey what happened?" Marco asked as he approched the two girls, a small brown box in his hands.

Ellie's eyes landed on the box, immediatly she recognized it. Her jaw nearly dropped as she spotted it, how could he have known? Where did he find it? What..

"Wh-Where did you get that?" Ellie stuttered.

"Huh? Oh it was on the front steps. Sean must have dropped it off. What is it?" Marco asked.

Sean? Sean was here? How could she have..it doesn't matter. She wouldn't have talked to him anyways. Ellie approched Marco, quickly snatching the box from his hands.

"It's nothing." She snapped as she turned and headed for the bedroom.

"Ellie!" Marco called after her.

Ellie slammed the door behind her, loud enough for Marco to finally get the hint and back off.

As she moved away from the door she sat down on the bed, holding on to the box tightly. She brushed away the tears welling in her eyes as she opened the box with a shaky hand.

The second she spotted the shiny bronze medals her eyes welled with tears. Ellie collapsed on the bed, grabbing the pillow as she buried her face in it, finally allowing for the sobs to escape, no more holding back.

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Sean sat down at the empty table in the far corner of The Dot. Rolling up his sleeve he checked the time..4:00... Leaning against the back of the seat he rested his head against it, closing his eyes as he tried to come up with a way, SOME way to get Ellie to talk to him. At this point he was desprate and willing to do just about anything he could to get her to listen to him, hear him out.

"What are you doing here?" A voice came from in front of him.

Sean's eyes fluttered open as he saw Paige standing before him, leaning on the bench. Great. Another person telling him just how much his leaving screwed Ellie up.

"I'm not going anywhere, ok? Not till she talks to me." Sean insisted.

"I didn't tell you to go anywhere." Paige said.

Without even waiting for a invitation, Paige slide into the booth across from him.

"What now?" Sean asked frustrared. "Look if you're here to tell me to go back to Wasaga, no one wants me here..I'm the reason Ellie ended up in that hospital..you're wasting your breath. I'm not going anywhere." Sean said.

"I'm not telling you any of that." Paige said, locking eyes with him.

"Then..what do you want?" Sean asked, confused.

"Why are you here? At the Dot. Why aren't you with Ellie? Why aren't you doing everything in your power to get her to listen to you?" Paige asked.

"Why aren't you telling me to leave?" Sean asked.

"Because unlike Ashley, Marco and everyone else you're associated with I'm not thinking about myself..for a change." Paige said.

"Who are you thinking about?"

"Ellie. She needs you, Sean." Paige said.

"Since when do you know what or who Ellie needs?"

"Since I saw her in the closet that day. Look I know that your leaving really screwed with her but its not all about you. She just found out her father died and instead of letting her be with the ONE PERSON she needs more then anything, they are being selfish and actually think that she can handle this with them. She cant. Look..I never would have gotten over my rape if it weren't for that jerk, Spinner. Even though I didn't know how much I needed him at the time..he still was there for me. And now I'm grateful for what he did..Ellie just doesn't realize how much she needs you right now..which is why you have to prove to her that you're not going anywhere.." Paige said.

Sean stared across the table at the blond haired girl. Never in a millon years would he have thought that he would be getting worthy advice from Paige Michalchuck. You have to prove to her that you're not going anywhere... Her words repeated over and over in his head.

"What can I get you?" The sound of Spinner Mason's voice shook Sean from his thoughts as he looked up. Spinner pulled a small white notepad and pencil out of his pocket as he stared at them. He looked just as confused to see Paige sitting there as Sean still was.

"Nothing." Sean said as he crawled from the booth.

As he walked around Spinner, heading for the door he stopped short, turning back to take one final look at Paige.

"Thanks.." he said softly.

Paige gave him a slight nod, as he turned and headed for the door, preparing himself to do something he should have done a long time ago.

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Ellie stared blankly at the ceiling above her. She has been laying here for nearly six hours now. Closing her eyes she has managed to drift off to sleep for a few moments here or there, but not much longer then a half hour or forty-five minutes at that. She had tried many times to sleep as long as possible, but just when she was thinking she would be able to make it the whole night..she found herself staring at the wall or ceiling, thinking that her eyes were closed. From her window she has been in bed long enough to witness the sun setting, the moon rising..now the only light in the room was the dim light that was coming from the moon, shining in through the closed blinds.

She looked beside her at the time. Almost Ten o'clock. Ellie rolled onto her side, but the second she did the picture on the night stand caught her attention. Pushing herself in bed, Ellie grabbed the picture as she looked down at it. Her eyes welled with tears as she stared down at it. She closed her eyes as she remembered the day it was taken.

It was a bright yet cold day, and Ellie, Sean, Jay and Alex had been hanging out in the stupid kids park. The one for the elementary school kids. A bunch of kids were running around them, screaming, laughing, they got a few dirty looks from some random parents as the group of teenagers walked in through the gate. Sean spotted the coffee table and grabbed Ellie, pulling her down beside him he pulled a camera from his pocket and tossed it to Jay, ordering him to take a picture. Ellie had tried to fight him, she hates getting her picture taken. And of course Sean knew this which is probably one of the reasons why he had insisted she smile for the camera. Of course he had to tickle her in order to get her to smile, but he somehow managed to get it out of her..like he always does.

Ellie's eyes opened as she heard the sound of something coming from the window, across the room. Sitting up in bed she watched in horror as the window slowly began to open. Realizing she never locked it. Of course the thought of locking it never actually occured to her before, no one ever really thought about locking their windows though. Robbery was not something Ellie ever remebers hearing much of since she came here.

Looking around the room, she slowly reached for the top drawer of the night stand, pulling it open quietly she pulled out the flashlight, it was heavy, heavy enough to cause some major damage to her attacker.

The window finally opened fully, and the sound of a body hitting the ground was enough to scare Ellie right out of the bed. She jumped to her feet as she ran across the room and quickly turned on the light.

"STOP!" She yelled as she raised the flashlight.

"NO!" The sound of a males voice shook her.

Ellie's jaw dropped as she got a good look at the man laying on the ground.

"Sean!?"